Hub Ice Cream Factory opens Friday downtown
Downtown’s newest ice cream shop opens Friday, just in time for the unofficial kickoff to summer.
Hub Ice Cream Factory at 245 E. Congress St. opens at noon Friday, serving a menu of housemade ice creams served in cones, floats, shakes and sundaes. The shop will be open from noon to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and from noon to 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays, said Sandy Ford, operations manager for Hub Ice Cream Factory as well as Hub Restaurant and Ice Creamery at 266 E. Congress St. and Playground Bar and Lounge at 278 E. Congress.
Ford said the shop’s signature flavors including salted caramel, bourbon almond brittle and birthday party will be served at both the restaurant and ice cream shop.
Eegee’s to open in June
at Speedway and Pantano
Eegee’s will open its 24th Tucson location in late June, this one in the eastside Saguaro Vista shopping plaza on East Speedway and North Pantano Road.
The restaurant will follow the 44-year-old Tucson fast-food company’s new store design, unveiled in January with the redesign of the restaurant at West Ajo Way and South 12th Avenue.
Eegee’s President Robert Jensen said all new restaurants going forward will be built in that design, which also includes a drive-through window.
Meanwhile, Jensen said, the company is working on a number of real estate deals with plans to open two new restaurants in 2016 and two in 2017.
“We’re looking all around,” said Jensen, who added that the new restaurants will be in the greater Tucson area.
Eegee’s also has a restaurant in Casa Grande.
New Tucson Mall shop
will please spice fanatics
Spicy news from the Tucson Mall: A local outpost of the Pepper Palace has opened in the food court’s Arizona Avenue.
If you’re a fan of hot sauce, your eyes are probably watering at the thought of getting your tongue on a hard-to find brand including the popular Flashbang hot sauce.
That one’s made with Carolina Reaper, Scorpion, Ghost Pepper, and Habanero peppers and packs a tongue-scalding 2 million-plus Scoville units — about as hot as standard grade pepper spray.
To get a taste, you have to be over 18 and sign a disclaimer. One ounce of the stuff goes for $21.95 which is not bad when you consider that an eighth of a teaspoon will heat up a whole pot of chili.
The shop, which opened about a month ago, is the company’s second Arizona outpost.
Bisbee brewery releases ‘sexy’ stout for summer
Whole Foods Market at 5555 E. River Road is hosting a bottle release party with Bisbee’s Beast Brewing Co. from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.
This will be the first time Beast Brewing has released bottled beer with Whole Foods. The writeup on the featured beer, Sexy Beast Coffee Stout, describes it as brewed with organic Nicaraguan coffee from Old Bisbee Roasters. It’s a medium-bodied beer with a smooth, sexy texture. Beast Brewing opened its taproom in early March 2014. Patrons can also meet the brewer at Friday’s event.
Jackson Tavern closes; concept ‘never took off’
Jackson Tavern, Brian Metzger’s months-old restaurant at Plaza Palomino, closed Friday night. It had been open since January.
In a Facebook posting Saturday that also was posted on the doors, company officials said the concept of New England cuisine “never took off the way that we thought it would.”
This is the second Metzger Family Restaurants enterprise to close in recent months. Metzger was locked out of Gio Taco on East Congress Street in March after falling behind on the rent. Gio had been open 15 months.
Metzger Family Restaurants still operates Poppy Kitchen at La Paloma Resort on East Sunrise Drive.
Armitage closes
Armitage Wine Lounge and Cafe in La Encantada, 2905 E. Skyline Drive, closed Sunday night.
Inger Sandal and Cathalena E. Burch
